«[T]here's [an] aspect of the way we manage globalization that I think contributes in an important way to inequality, and that is, I think it's very asymmetric. We allow free movement of goods, free movement of capital, but there's not a free movement of labor.

And what does that mean? It means that corporations can come to workers and they can say: "Look, if you don't accept lower wages, we're going to move to China or some place else, and we can bring our goods back to the US". So, either they accept the lower wages or either they accept the loss of jobs. They are really put in a bind.

I tell my students: "Think about a different set of rules. Think about what would happen if we said labor could move freely but capital couldn't, you could imagine that." And then countries would have to compete to get labor, schooled labor, to move within their country. You'd have to have good schools, clean air... A very different society that the one that we're having, where we're having a race to the bottom, in terms of workers.

That's just another example of how our rules increase inequality and weaken our society. »


Joseph Stiglitz, presentando su libro "The Price of Inequality: How Today's Divided Society Endangers Our Future" en el Commonwealth Club de California. [A partir de 35 min 15 s]